


Through Darkness: A Criminal Minds Fanfic

by Spence_The_Writer



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Criminal Minds (US TV) Season/Series 10, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hurt Spencer Reid, I basically rewrote the cannon from season 10 on... so get ready kids, Jason Gideon is Alive fic, M/M, Other, Physical Abuse, Psychological Torture, Spencer Reid Needs a Hug, Spencer Reid as Unsub, The Las Vegas Ripper
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:07:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29842641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spence_The_Writer/pseuds/Spence_The_Writer
Summary: |TW: Blood/Gore, Torture, Religious trauma, past drug use, Brainwashing, Murder, Vomiting?A case gets personal for the BAU when a dangerous Unsub captures one of their own. However, as time goes on, the team finds that there missing member is more than just missing.  Will they be able to save their team member before its too late?
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid, Catherine "Cat" Adams/Spencer Reid, Emily Prentiss/Spencer Reid, Spencer Reid/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Basically I just rewrote the cannon the way I wanted so lets just get into it I guess?

_Of all the times for him to be ill, this had to be the most inconvenient_

Dr. Spencer Reid felt tears roll down his face as he felt the taste of vomit pass over his tongue. His entire body screamed in pain as he wiped what remained of his dinner from his face. He stared regretfully into his toilet bowl, knowing full well that he was going to have to force himself to his feet to get to the Pepto-Bismol from his medicine cabinet, but that was the last thing he wanted to do right now. In fact, the only thing Dr. Spencer Reid wanted to do right now was to pass out on his bathroom floor.

 _‘Note to self,_ ’ Spencer thought to himself ,’next time, avoid the new Chinese place down the street.’ 

He slowly lifted his head, looking up toward the ceiling as he finally felt the nausea subside. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for him to take a deep breath without vomiting what was left of the contents of his stomach. Spencer fell back onto his bathroom wall, utterly exhausted. He could feel the bile that had previously taken up residence in his throat begin to sink as he finally felt his nausea subside. Spencer turned over onto his side to grab his phone that he had brought just in case he had to call an ambulance. Thankfully, it didn’t seem necessary for the time being. He turned his phone on to check the time. 

“ 3:00 am, great,” Spencer scoffed as he gathered the strength to stand. 

Of course it was three in the morning, why couldn’t it have been a decent hour to be up? Spencer sighed as he slowly but surely propped himself up against his bathroom counter. He stared at his reflection, almost pitying the man he saw in the mirror. His pale, clammy skin and his sweat stained ensemble was enough to make another person sick. Reid turned to his medicine cabinet, starting to feel better as he grabbed the proper medicine from the shelf inside. He grabbed a cup, filled it with water from the tap, and quickly swallowed the pills. His hands were still shaking as he sat the cup down on the counter. 

_‘ God, I look pathetic.”_

Spencer once again glanced at his reflection, relieved to see the color return to his face. Hoping that this was simply a one-time fiasco, he turned the tap on again and washed his face. The water cleaning off his tears and shame as it hit his skin. If it weren’t for the fact that his team would come break down his door he would call in sick right now. But, he knew that Morgan and/or Garcia would come barging into his apartment and baby him to no end like they tried to do after Maeve. Spencer massaged his temples as he felt his headache begin to return. He groaned pitifully as he once again opened his medicine cabinet for some ibuprofen. He could tell from the way his head throbbed that it was going to be a long day.

_*buzz *buzz *buzz_

Spencer groaned as he picked up his phone, he knew what awaited him on that screen, and part of him wanted to smash that screen into a million pieces. It would’ve been easier to put back together than his already fractured life. However, he picked up the phone anyway, pleasantly surprised to find that it was a different type of message. I was from Prentiss. She had gone travelling in London and found some limited edition Dr. Who merchandise and was sending him some. He smiled, it was nice to know that someone was thinking about him, despite how long she had been at Interpol. As he glanced at the time at the top of the screen, sighing in disappointment as he realized that there was no way he was going to get anymore sleep. 

“ Guess I should get ready for work then,” he muttered to himself as he turned on his shower. 

After cleaning up, Spencer put on his typical work clothes: a purple dress-shirt, a dark tie, some brown slacks, and his iconic mismatched socks and black converse and put in his morning coffee order. It was nothing special, just an iced peppermint mocha with a double shot of espresso, but it was very much needed if he was to get through today. As he began gathering the remaining paperwork he needed, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Spencer rolled his eyes as he clicked the answer button, not even needing to look to know who it was. 

“ Hey Hotch, I’m already on my way,” 

“ We have a case, debrief is in 2 hours,” Hotch stated ,sounding startled by Spencer’s energetic response.

“ Alright,”

Spencer ended the call as he threw his satchel next to his go-bag in the front seat of his car. He could feel his adrenaline begin course through his veins as he turned on his car and pulled out of the parking lot and towards the coffeehouse down the street. It was a small, crowded place in the mornings, but the coffee was worth it. Thankfully they had one of those apps you could order on before you got there, not that Spencer was particularly fond of technology. It was a cruel thing, but when it came to his coffee, Dr. Reid would suffer the mild inconvenience. As he rushed out of his car to get in line, he noticed another man, about his age, doing the exact same thing. As he approached the door, he opened the door for him. He was unsure of why, but there was something about him that just didn’t feel right. It was as if he had been put into the wrong universe. But, Spencer ignored it, immediately feeling foolish for thinking that way. He was just another man getting his morning coffee like everyone else, right? 

“ Order for Spencer Reid,” The young Lady called out. 

He stood up, quickly dashing to the counter. Thankfully, it wasn’t too crowded this morning. He quickly grabbed his coffee, placed a couple of dollars in their tip jar and made a beeline for his car. As he quickly got in, he got that same feeling again, it was as if he was being watched. He turned around, making sure no one was in the backseat, ready to strangle him. Once again, he found nothing suspicious. He laughed at himself, maybe the job was finally getting to him. He pulled out of the small parking lot, praying that there wasn’t going to be too much traffic this morning. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> |TW| For Violence, torture, Religious Trauma, Illness, etc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N]: Okay, so now that I've finally made it to spring break, I should be able to produce some more chapters for you guys, shout out to Boots17 for Beta reading my work! Thank you so much!

_There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.”_

_―_ _Oscar Levant_

“Sorry I’m late,”

Spencer sighed in annoyance as he rushed into the bullpen. Once again, traffic in Quantico had been a nightmare. Guess that’s what happens when most of the population is going to the same place. Reid sat down in his usual chair, setting down his coffee on the table as he opened his paper copy of the casefile. 

“ You’re not late,” Hotch responded, “ we’re still waiting on Rossi and Callahan.” 

“Pretty Boy, you alright?” Morgan asked from across the table, his dark eyes filled with concern. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Spencer answered, trying to act as if he hadn’t spent the past few hours vomiting his guts out. He could tell from the look on everyone’s face that they were concerned, but he couldn’t let this one-time incident ruin this case. As he leaned back in his chair, he opened the files placed on his side of the table. It was a typical case, five girls in two weeks, all blondes with blue eyes, found with their throats slit in the same 3 block radius in Corpus Christi, Texas. Spencer could feel the humidity and heat already. He remembered the last case they had there, and it wasn’t what you would call a happy ending. 

“Guess we’re late to the party?”

Spencer snapped back to reality as Rossi and Kate made their way into the room. They smiled as they walked to their respective chairs. Rossi placed a hand on Reid’s shoulder as he sat down reassuringly, almost as if he knew what had happened. Reid smiled back at him as Garcia went to the front of the room. She was clad in her usual attire: a light dress covered in crazy pink designs, a dark pink blazer, and her long blonde hair was pulled up in a multitude of complex hairclips. 

“ Alright my furry friends, we’ve got a pretty rough one today,” Garcia started, “ Five women in two weeks have been found in Corpus Christi with their throats slit.”

As the digital copies of the photos glided onto the screen, Spencer began to look deeper into the casefiles. He reread through the files in the blink of an eye, taking all the information in like a sponge. As he sifted through the missing person’s reports of the women, he noticed something odd. None of these women were Corpus natives. They all came from different parts of the country with different reasons for being there. However, all the women were last seen near major vacation venues. For the first three victims, it made sense, they were in Corpus for vacation, but the last two victims were there for business trips. Neither of their schedules indicate that they should’ve been anywhere near where they were last seen. The more he read through the files, the more strange this case seemed. 

“Reid,” 

Spencer jumped as he looked up from his files. The entire team was staring at him, their stares seemed more concerned than usual. How long had they been trying to get his attention? By the looks of it, it had been a while. He could feel his cheeks burning with embarrassment as he placed the files back on the table. 

“I take it you’ve already found something?” Hotch asked.

“Yes,” He answered, “ the Unsub changed patterns, at first he was targeting tourists, then after a third victim, his victimology changed to business women? It just caught my eye. Sorry if I scared you guys.” 

The team giggled softly, easing the tension in the room. Spencer sighed with relief, it’s not that he didn’t want them to know, he did, but he did not want to be the reason the BAU gets held up again. Plus, he hated the attention that came with it. The team needed him, whether he had just been sick or not. As Garcia continued with the briefing, Spencer could feel the nausea rising in his throat once more. He glanced regretfully at his morning coffee and could tell that this wouldn’t end well. 

“Alright guys, wheels up in 30,” Hotch said as he stood to leave. 

Spencer casually jaunted to the restroom, dumping his half-drunk coffee in a trash can on the way. Nausea began to overwhelm his senses again as he shut and locked the restroom door behind him. He threw his satchel on the floor and collapsed in front of the toilet, once again feeling the bitter taste of bile in his mouth. What was going on? Maybe last night’s Chinese food wasn’t going down without a fight? Or worse yet, had he gotten the stomach flu from the outbreak at Henry’s school that JJ had mentioned a couple of weeks ago? No, that was extremely unlikely, he hadn’t seen Henry in over a week, and it takes at most 72 hours for the stomach flu to… He cut himself off and reflected back on his thoughts. He missed watching Henry on the weekends for JJ and Will, the movie nights and the bedtime stories they would share with Garcia. What kind of godfather doesn’t see his godchild in over a week? Spencer resolved that after that case, he was going to take Henry for the weekend for a boys weekend, just the two of them. Well… hopefully if this vomiting nonsense would pass. He could feel the nausea and headache subside once again as he propped himself up against the tiled wall. 

“ Spence, you okay in there?”

“Yeah JJ I’m okay”

Crap, he couldn’t let JJ see him like this. Not after what she saw in Virginia all those years ago. Spencer quickly jumped to open the door, fearing the interrogation that would ensue beyond it. However, as he unlocked the door, he found no-one behind it. Not that he wasn’t relieved that he didn’t have to face her, but Spencer grew more concerned that this was going to be another plane discussion. He shut the door quietly, washed his face in the sink quickly, and rushed out of that bathroom to the parking lot. As he found his way to his car, he felt another headache begin to form. He groaned as he fell into his car seat, this was going to be a long case.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> |TW| For Violence, gore, torture, illness, etc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N]: Okay, I'm trying something different due to the circumstances of this work. I am changing perspectives for this chapter and it may change again, but I will make it clear when I do so... just wanted to let y'all know.

_"Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence."_

_~ Edgar Allan Poe_

“ So, are we gonna talk about it?” 

Derek Morgan sat in his usual chair on the jet, seeing only Hotch and Rossi were in his midst. Normally, he would excuse Reid’s odd behavior, but today he looked as pale as a ghost and exhausted, not to mention that he just disappeared after the briefing. It was unlike the genius to act in such a way. Honestly, Morgan was surprised that Reid wasn’t here right now. Usually, he was one of the first to arrive on the jet. 

“Talk about what Morgan,” Hotch answered, not looking up from his tablet. 

“ You’re telling me that you don’t think that Reid’s acting strange today?” 

Rossi answered Morgan, “ I thought we had a rule about inter-team profiling?” 

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Were they really gonna just ignore Reid's abnormal behavior? There was no way that Hotch or Rossi were gonna just stand by, right? Maybe? It’s not like either of them reached out to him after Tobias. Then again, that may have been to keep him on the team. The FBI probably wouldn’t take kindly to having a drug addict on their payroll. Still, they weren’t the ones that got a frantic 3 am call from JJ about Reid almost overdosing. He hated to think about it, but Reid had been through many stressors lately, especially after Gideon’s tragic demise. He noticed that Reid had grown a little more distant than usual, and frankly he was starting to act the way he would when he was using. 

“This isn’t profiling, Rossi, I'm worried about him.” 

“If Reid is having an issue, he’ll come to one of us,” Hotch answered.

“I’m not so sure about that,” Morgan mumbled, turning his head to look out the plane window. It’s not that he didn’t trust Reid, hell, he’s trusted the man with his life countless times, but he could tell that something wasn’t right, even if Hotch was going to ignore it. As he opened his phone, Morgan caught a glimpse of JJ entering the plane, go-bag in hand. As she entered the plane, she took a seat next to Morgan, as she usually did. Morgan sighed as he checked the time, it was getting late and they were still missing Kate and Reid.

“Okay, what’s going on,” JJ asked, “ it’s a little too quiet in here.” 

“I’m worried about Reid,” Morgan said, “ I think something might be up.” 

Suddenly, he saw JJ's eyes grow wide. Did she know what was happening? No, if he had told JJ and it was bad enough she would tell Hotch. Morgan hated this, he hated the fact that his friend may be suffering and wasn’t talking to anyone about it. 

“Yeah, I saw him run into the bathroom after the briefing,” JJ answered,” I checked up on him and said he was fine, but I’m not so sure.” 

As the pair continued talking, Kate had found her way into the plane, taking a seat across from Morgan and JJ by the window. She quickly joined the conversation, only confirming Morgan’s suspicions. They continued to talk, feeling Hotch’s judgmental stare from across the plane. The group avoided his gaze, for fear that his stare could actually kill them. Morgan understood Hotch’s anger, he didn’t like distrust amongst the team, but there comes a time that you have to confront a fellow team member as a friend, not as a co-worker. 

“I don’t know guys,” Kate said, “maybe we should just ask Reid-”

“Ask me what?” 

In their rush to confront Reid, the group had failed to notice that Reid had entered the plane and set his go-bag down. Morgan sighed, he looked better than he had at the briefing. His skin had returned to its normal peach color, and he seemed to be more alert. Well, alert wasn’t the best term for what Reid looked right now, more like he looked rather pissed. Morgan stood, seeing as this was the best opportunity to talk to him about what was going on. 

“ Reid, are you sure that you’re alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Reid smiled, “ other than being dragged into a random security search.” 

“That’s what took you so long?” Hotch cracked a smile. 

Reid smirked back at Hotch as he sat down in his usual spot, in one of the singles chairs by Rossi. As he opened his bag and took out the casefiles, Morgan realized how ridiculous he sounded. He couldn’t believe that he had even let himself think like that. Reid had been sober for five years, and there was no way he would throw it all away, not after all he’d been through. Reid seemed like his normal, happy-go-lucky self. Morgan smiled to himself, guessing that the therapist Reid was going to seemed to be helping him after all. 

“Alright Garcia, tell us what you got.”

“Alright my profilers,” Garcia stated, “ Corpus Christi PD just found another woman, 25 year old Alexis Fielding from Lansing, Michigan. Looks like our junior G-man was right about the change in victims, she was a businesswoman. She was planning on visiting a journalism convention at the American Bank center. She was last seen at a local tourist trap on North Beach two days ago, CCPD found her in a local park near Ocean Drive.”

“Question is, how is he getting these low risk victims to deviate from their schedules?” Rossi asked. 

“They could’ve been lured away,” Morgan suggested,” a young, attractive man could have approached them, promising romance and adventure,” 

“I’m not so sure,” Reid countered, “ maybe for the first two but all of the other women were competitive and confident, it would take a lot more than ‘romance’ to take them away from their careers.”

Hotch stopped the conversation abruptly, telling the team that the jet was getting grounded for a couple of hours. Apparently there was some severe weather hitting the area, and it wasn’t safe for the pilot to fly. The team was going to land in Houston for a couple of hours, and they were going to continue after the storm passed. Hotch told them to get comfortable as they felt the plane begin to descend. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
